Buffalo AD Candidate Brackets, The Local Options

So Bucky wrote a tripe article in which he exposed his hate boner for Danny White and his total ignorance of the financials of college athletics. I was close do doing a point by point rebuttal, but my inner Murtaugh told me I was too old to bother with him anymore.

Nestled in the article was a decent list of the local candidates for the Athletic Directors job.

Side Note: This is what most grinds my gears about Bucky. This could have been a nice article about what Greene accomplished and where to go next.

It turned into a “slam Danny White” and “drop to FCS” article.

Anyway here is his list of local candidates. Two form Bucky and one I am throwing out there because it got mentioned the last time we were looking for an Athletic Director.

Paul Vecchio, athletic director at Alfred, worked at UB for 17 years and served as associate AD under Manuel.

I’ve had a few conversations with Paul before he left to take over at Alfred. He was VERY cordial in the early days of Bull Run, and helped me navigate some of the challenges back before we were on SBNation.

I like Paul and he’s someone who’s tenure at UB goes way back to before I was a college student. He rode the waves of the poorly managed transition to D1 and Warde Manuel’s eventual righting of the ship. He was even around, I think, at the Begining of the Danny White era.

He’s also been very successful getting facilities built at Alfred, growing their donor base, and getting some great results on the field.

My ONLY concern with Vecchio is not that he’s at a DIII school, but that his entire career as a student, and as a professional have been in WNY.

He went to Brockport and UB for college. Then he worked for Alfred (SID), then Buffalo (SID), then back to Alfred (AD).

So I don’t know how networked into the world of Division one athletics he is.

He could be really connected through his experience at UB and Warde Manuel or he could not be. It should be something for the hiring committee to vet.

Tim Kenney, athletic director at St. Bonaventure, grew up in Grand Island, earned his bachelor’s at UB

Kenney is local now and a bit better traveled than any of the other local candidates. well traveled but he has done some work around the North East.

After graduating from UB he worked at Stony Brook from 1995-2004. Hired as a assistant AD and assistant hoops coach. He then worked his way up, over the years, to be the Director of External affairs.

It’s important to remember that for most of this run Stony Brook was a DIII school.

After Stony Brook he was hired by UMass and put together a nice string of accomplishments. Kenney acted as the lead planner for the UMass basketball practice facility was directing the mens hoops daily operations on a year when they returned to the NCAA Tournament.

He did a great job on the money side driving the department to some big donations and their highest ever revenue mark.

He’s been the big man at Saint Bonaventure for about three years. In that time he has made some minor facility upgrades but nothing amazing.

I’m intrigued by Kenny as an option. He was there when UMass moved up to FBS so he sees the value in the program, he’s a UB Alum and athlete (Swimmer), and he is someone who has been around a little on the east coast, dealing with other A10 Atheltic departments and building relationships.

Daemen College athletic director Bridget Niland. A UB Track Alumnus

Niland worked for a time as an Associate Director of Academic and Membership Affairs for the NCAA. Then went to Daemen as in a professor in 2006, eventually rising to the post of Athletic Director in 2014.

She’s won a lot of awards and is on a lot of lists.

In 1996 she was named the Buffalo Business First 40 Under 40, one of Power 100 Women in 2015 and 2016, and the Buffalo Niagara Partnership Athena Young Professional also in 2016.

She has pretty deep ties into the region and community. She used to work on the YMCA Board of Directors, and currently serves on the Miracle League of WNY Board of Directors, Buffalo Niagara Convention and Visitors Bureau, Buffalo Sports Commission, and WNY Girls in Sport Strategic Planning Committee.

In other words she seems very plugged in to the local business, sports, and tourism communities. Those could be useful relationships.

But how does that translate into relationships with other D1 Schools... Did her time at the NCAA, which was a log time ago, help her to build some solid foundational relationships?